Skills-building programming for refugee and host community adolescents in Jordan: a qualitative assessment of the integrated Makani curriculum

The 2018 Global Compact on Refugees made ambitious commitments to provide education, health and protection services for children, adolescents and youth from refugee communities, and underscored the importance of investing in opportunities to empower and engage with young people from refugee and host communities. As such, child- and adolescent-friendly spaces are increasingly becoming mainstreamed into humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected contexts to support the development, protection and broader well-being of young people, and to provide a focal point for engaging with caregivers and the community (Hermosilla et al., 2019). UNICEF Jordan’s Makani (‘My Space’) programme for children and adolescents from host and refugee communities, which was launched at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, is a longstanding example of such programming, offering integrated education, protection and skills-building opportunities across the Kingdom of Jordan (Banati et al., 2024a).

Suggested citation

Jones, N., Alheiwidi, S., Alabbadi, T., Shareef, Q. and Harrison, M. (2025) ‘Skills-building programming for refugee and host community adolescents in Jordan: a qualitative assessment of the integrated Makani curriculum’. Policy brief. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (https://gage.odi.org/skills-building-programming-for-refugee-and-host-community-adolescents-in-jordan-a-qualitative-assessment-of-the-integrated-makani-curriculum/)